Phillies Select Arkansas Razorbacks’ Righty Gage Wood with the 26th Pick in the 2025 MLB Draft

The Philadelphia Phillies added a big-time righty arm to the organization on Sunday night selecting University of Arkansas right-handed starting pitcher Gage Wood 26th overall in the 2025 MLB Draft.

With the 26th pick in the MLB Draft, the Phillies have selected RHP Gage Wood#RingTheBell x #MLBDraft25 pic.twitter.com/j9mfu6ZZPl

— Phillies Player Development (@PhilsPlayerDev) July 14, 2025

The 21-year-old Batesville, Arkansas product spent the past three seasons with the SEC’s Arkansas Razorbacks in both a reliver and starting pitching role. Over 45-games out of the bullpen, Wood amassed a 5-2 record with seven saves and an ERA of around 4.50 in 70.1 innings pitched. After a successful 2024 Cape Cod League season with the Falmouth Commodores, Wood transitioned into Razorbacks’ starting rotation for 2025 but was limited to just 10 starts due to a shoulder injury. Wood compiled a 4-1 record with a 4.06 ERA and 16.5 K/9 in 37.1 innings pitched.

The highlight of Wood’s collegiate career came in June when he threw the third no-hitter in College World Series history, fanning 19 Murray State Racers in a 3-0 elimination game win.

A NO-HITTER AND MCWS-RECORD 19 STRIKEOUTS FOR GAGE WOOD!

What a performance for the Arkansas pitcher 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QC4E7r1Nrl

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 16, 2025

Where Gage Wood Ranks as a Draft Prospect

It looks like the Phillies got a steal at No. 26 in the MLB Draft. In the days following his historic no-no in Omaha, Wood’s profile climbed immensely. D1Baseball.com ranked him as the 10th best college player in the MLB Draft and MLB’s in-house prospect service had Wood ranked N0. 23 overall.

Additional Rankings

• The Athletic (Keith Law): 31
• Baseball America: 18
• ESPN: 21
• MLB Pipeline: 50

What the Scouts are Saying About Gage Wood

Fastball: 70 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 45 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 55 | Overall: 50

Primarily a two-pitch pitcher, Wood has a fastball that sits in the mid-90’s but can reach 98-99 MPH when needed. He has a whiff rate around 60% on his fastball and has a very good 12/6 curveball as his go-to off-speed pitch. He also throws an above average slider and changeup with average control but could use some fine tuning of his arsenal. Still a work in progress, some college baseball observers believe Wood could end up being the best college arm in the draft.

Projection: middle-to-back of the rotation starter